Cathedral Ward

This is the Walkthrough page for the second main area of the game - The Cathedral Ward.

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As you enter the Cathedral Ward, you may notice an odd “man” in the corner in a red cloak. This Cathedral Attendant is harmless, and will ask that you send survivors to the temple where they will be safe. You can also check back at Iosefka's Clinic where you started and Iosekfa herself will give you the same spiel behind a closed door. There just happens to be one woman in Central Yharnam who is looking for such a safe place, across the bridge from the kennels at the entrance to the Central Yharnam Aqueduct. It’s up to you to tell her which place to go - as both locations seem a little too good to be true. Send her to Iosefka, and she will reward you at the door with some Numbing Mist. Send her to the chapel instead, and you’ll get a Triumph Emote. Alternatively, if you just don't feel comfortable leaving such an odd and creepy man alive you can slay him for a Caryll Rune that will provide +3 to your maximum Quicksilver bullet count (although you probably wont be able to equip it yet).

Inside the chapel there are three doors. The one to the right is locked, and the one straight ahead, and one leading down some stairs to the left. Heading straight, you’ll find a new enemy on the other side of the wagon. These Church Servants are fairly slow, and only have a few attacks with their walking staffs. Kill him, and the Carrion Crows in the area, then head up the stairs and kill two more guards. The gate here is locked, but at least you can grab a Wooden Shield if you miss blocking (it doesn’t do a great job.) Back in the chapel, take the stairs down to another open area. Two more Church Servants will be here - one on his way out to look out on a vista (great for sneaking up on) and one coming down some stairs. Once you get rid of them, check behind the graves at the end to find some new Hunter Garb along with a Top Hat - but don’t linger. You’ll most likely hear roaring noise and see what looks like a void coming your way. If it hits you, an unseen enemy will grab you and lift you high into the air - most likely killing you.

Taking the path down the stairs will lead to yet another chapel, this one with several patrolling Huntsmen and a Rabid Dog. You might think them beneath you at this point, but they aren’t pushovers just yet. Take them out in small groups before continuing on. The chapel itself has a large tomb, with a huntsman hiding in the back. Kill him and grab the Madman's Knowledge, then head outside and around the corner to a long stairway with a rifleman at the top. Don’t be fooled, as two Rabid Dogs will run down the stairs as you begin the climb. Run back down to avoid his fire, take out the dogs, then go back to finish the rifleman. Inside the upper floor of the chapel, you can exit out the other side to find a friendly church hunter named Alfred. If you decide to ally with him, he’ll give you a Pray Emote, and some Fire Paper, and tell you more about the land, and specifically how the path to Byrgenwerth is sealed, and only the clergy of the grand cathedral know the password. Back in the chapel, don’t forget to throw the switch on the balcony to unveil a path below the tomb. This leads to a room with a Tempering Blood Gemstone, a Scourge Beast in a dark room, a long broken staircase with some Antidotes, and eventually a new lantern waypoint and the path to Old Yharnam - which you can explore now or come back to later.

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Back at the area with the two Church Servants, go up the small stairs to a very large staircase with an open gate in the middle...and a very big guard. These Cathedral Giants carry massive weapons, and do massive damage with wide reaches. If you’d rather avoid him for the moment, wait until he goes up the stairs then close the gate behind him so he doesn’t come up behind you later. If you want to try your hand, try to bait him into attacking, and watch for when he raises his leg. After a large sweep or downward strike, he’ll be vulnerable for several moments, allowing you to get some hits in. Repeat the process until he goes down, and move on.

At the bottom of the stairs, a brick-wielding Huntsman's Minion is standing amidst some Carrion Crows, who will be joined by another minion. You can get off a stealth attack on one of them if you’d like, and lure them away from the birds and defeat them before taking out the crows. To the right of the broken bridge you’ll see another of the Cathedral Giants resting. Nearby, you might notice an odd tiny black creatures made of human skulls. This little Skull Beast can be seen scampering away in certain areas, and will disappear unless you kill it fast enough. If you do manage to kill it, you'll most likely get a Blood Stone Shard or two. Unfortunately it is on the other side of the giant, and running past it may have dire consequences. This particular giant has a ball and chain with a very different set of moves. Once again, bait out its attacks and wait for it to swing the ball and chain around 4 times before slamming it with incredible reach, and then get some hits in. When the giant is dead, head down the stairs at the far end to find a chest that’s yours for the taking.

With that area cleared, its time to head up the long staircase to the large gate at the top. The gate is locked, and requires the Hunter Emblem Key. This particular key can only be bought from the Fountain Merchant in the Hunter’s Dream, and will only be for sale if you’ve obtained the Sword Hunter Badge from defeating the Cleric Beast.

As you open the gate, you'll a large open circular area ahead with two Cathedral Giants patrolling the plaza. Take them on one at a time, and then help yourself to the 5 corpses littering the plaza, each with a Madman's Knowledge. The way forward is shut by yet another gate, so instead you have two options.

One option is to try the side route on the left from the plaza. It leads to an upper area with a Carrion Crow and a new slithering slobbering foe with tendrils for a mouth. Keep your distance from the Brainsucker, and take it out safely, or risk being torn to shreds. Behind where the horror was, you can find Twin Blood Stone Shards. From here you can overlook a long alley path ending with several enemies, including two Large Huntsmen and a host of Huntsmen. You can drop down from here - but be warned you'll have nowhere to run, and risk alerting the entire crowd. You can also go left from the ledge, grab some Shining Coins from the next room, and cross the small bridge to a balcony with a corpse who has a Tempering Blood Gemstone. Down the stairs is a corpse with some Antidotes, and a path to a door that requires a password.

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If jumping into a fight isn't your style, go back in the small area before the main plaza, head right and grab the Thick Coldblood, then head left and take out the two Church Servants and a Carrion Crow. Be warned, as one of the servants carries his own flamespewer, and can easily incinerate you if aren't prepared. Grab the other Thick Coldblood behind the crow and head down the stairs. Grab the Poison Knife from the corpse and continue down into the alleyway. There are several doors you can interact with here in this red-light district, and as you navigate the narrow alley, an enemy will ambush you from the right. Kill him quickly as a rifleman and a large huntsman will come from the other end of the alley and try to ambush you. Lead the large huntsman back first and take out the rifleman next, taking care to note of another huntsman sitting down behind an alley corner. Look behind where the sitting man ambushed you to find a corpse with a set of Black Church Attire. This Attire can actually have different effects depending on who you talk to while wearing it. Near the last alcove before the stairs out of the alley is yet another corpse with another Poison Knife.

At the end of the alley you'll be in the area that was described earlier. Another rifleman and some other huntsmen wait at the top, along with one more large huntsman. Carefully dodge the sniper fire and take out the enemies on your way up. A body near the rifleman holds some Blood Vials, and the area where you can drop down from the upper platform hides a Thick Coldblood. Now head inside the building and take the ladder to the top of a tower overlooking the plaza. Along the tower, you'll find another note from the Messengers detailing the secrets of the passworded door.

Carefully drop down or climb down the ladder on the other side of the tower onto the roof of a building. Get some Quicksilver Bullets from the body on the roof, and make sure you don't drop down on top of an Rabid Dog waiting below. There's another corpse in the corner here with more Thick Coldbood. Before you go any further here, make sure to open the gate to the plaza, creating a nice shortcut. You can also unlock an even better shortcut by going right instead of up the stairs. First grab the Coldblood Dew in the corner near the smaller stairs, then take the small flight of stairs up and over to where the first locked gate you encountered. You can now unlock this gate as well, giving you easy access back to Oedon Chapel. From here, climb the nearby ladder to the top, where you can find a body with some Numbing Mist. From here, start hopping down the rooftops towards the Oedon Chapel, where you can find another corpse on the roof with a Black Messenger Hat. You can use this back at the Hunter's Dream to customize your Messengers at the stump behind the house.

Now it's time to head up the long staircase. You can take the small stairs along the side where you unlocked the gate to find some Thick Coldblood, and get the jump on two Church Servants and a Cathedral Giant. The Servants will most likely be atop two high platforms overlooking the stairs - one with a scythe, the other with a repeating pistol. With their backs turned, they make for great stealth attack targets. Once they're down, carefully dodge and defeat the Cathedral Giant, then continue up the long stairs. At the top of the stairs, two more Servants will meet you, armed with large barbed crucifixes. If they hit you, you're likely to take a bit of frenzy damage, so make sure the bar doesn't fill up - or risk taking massive damage. With the Servants dead, you can now enter the door at the top of the stairs to face the next boss - Vicar Amelia.

If you'd rather hold off on Vicar Amelia, or you are having trouble defeating her, you have two other options. Take the path left through a large cave to enter Hemwick Charnel Lane, or go back through the secret path under the tomb to enter Old Yharnam.

The biggest tip for Amelia, is to not fight her right away. You can encounter her quite early, but unless you are already hitting quite hard you should avoid this fight, as you will struggle to beat her healing mechanic.

If you are still fairly weak, this fight may be nigh impossible for you. Amelia has a very powerful heal, and unless you can dish out large amounts of damage quickly, it will be incredibly difficult for you to beat her. If you find yourself struggling due to this mechanic, come back later when you are hitting harder.

Amelia is primarily a melee fighter, she has large sweeping attacks, and is rarely left open, other than during her long combos, or after she lunges at you. Her overhead, two handed pound attack is also a great opportunity to strike her head, just be fast on the dodges, as being hit by it will sting quite a bit.

The main method for killing Amelia involves striking her legs. Anytime you can, try to damage her legs. If one leg takes enough damage, she will fall over. You can then rush to her head and attempt a Visceral Attack for massive damage. The hit box for this attack is a little finicky, so even if it doesn't go off, just slash at her head until she stands back up.

Repeat this until you get her below 50%, and she will utilize a new heal power. She will run away from you and get on her legs, hold her locket near her and start healing. It's a very powerful heal, so make sure to rush up to her and start hitting her. Try to aim for her legs, because just like before, if you injure her legs enough, she gets stunned, cancelling the heal and allowing you to land a Visceral Attack. Aside from her heal, nothing else changes, so continue assaulting her legs when you can, and wail on her head and land Visceral Attacks when she is stunned.

Once she has been defeated, you will gain her Gold Pendant, and be able to activate the lantern waypoint for the Grand Cathedral. Approach the altar and interact with the large glowing skull. You will have a vision of two men talking, speaking cryptic words. These words are actually the password for the locked gate near the plaza with the two Cathedral Giants. You will now be able to get through the door and move onto the Forbidden Forest

Warning: Defeating Vicar Amelia will not only progress the story, but trigger the time of day to change from sunset to night. This has more than a cosmetic effect, as certain enemy placements will change, stronger enemies may appear, and optional areas may now become much harder. For an easier time, it is reccomended that you complete any optional areas before confronting the boss.